शिंशुमार

Sanskrit

Alternative forms

शिशुमार (śiśumāra) — Epic Sanskrit, Classical Sanskrit
शुंशुमार (śuṃśumāra)
शिंशुक (śiṃśuka), शिशुक (śiśuka) — Classical Sanskrit
शुशुका (śuśukā) — Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit
शि॒शूल॑ (śiśū́la) — Vedic

Etymology

Unknown; probably borrowed from substrate.^[1]^[2]

The following hypotheses have been put forth:

Lüders' proposal relating -मार॑ (-mā́ra) to मक॑र (mákara, “sea monster, crocodile”); rejected by Mayrhofer.
Thieme's derivation from शिशुम् (śiśum, “child”, acc.sg) + *आर (āra) (related to Latin alere (“to raise, nourish”)); rejected by Edgerton,^[3] Mayrhofer, and Turner. But note Thieme's response offering additional evidence for the root अर् (ar) ~ अल् (al, “to satisfy”).^[4]
Some relationship with Tamil கிஞ்சுமாரம் (kiñcumāram), கிஞ்சுமம் (kiñcumam), கிஞ்சி (kiñci, “crocodile”); tentatively listed by Mayrhofer.

In later Sanskrit, the term was folk-etymologically modified to शिशु (śiśu, “baby, infant”) +‎ मार (māra, “killing”), literally “baby-killer”.^[5]

Pronunciation

(Vedic) IPA^(key): /ɕĩ.ɕu.mɑ́ː.ɾɐ/
(Classical Sanskrit) IPA^(key): /ɕĩ.ɕuˈmɑː.ɾɐ/

Noun

शिं॒शु॒मार॑ • (śiṃśumā́ra) stem, m ^[6]

South Asian river dolphin, Platanista
- c. 1700 BCE – 1200 BCE, Ṛgveda 1.116.18:
  यदया॑तं॒ दिवो॑दासाय व॒र्तिर्भ॒रद्वा॑जायाश्विना॒ हय॑न्ता ।
  रे॒वदु॑वाह सच॒नो रथो॑ वां वृष॒भश्च॑ शिंशु॒मार॑श्च यु॒क्ता ॥
  yádáyātaṃ dívodāsāya vartírbharádvājāyāśvinā háyantā.
  reváduvāha sacanó rátho vāṃ vṛṣabháśca śiṃśumā́raśca yuktā́.
  1890 translation by Ralph T. H. Griffith
  When to his house ye came, to Divodâsa, hasting to Bharadvâja, O ye Aṣvins, The car that came with you brought splendid riches: a porpoise and a bull were yoked together.
- c. 1200 BCE – 1000 BCE, Atharvaveda
- c. 1200 BCE – 800 BCE, Kṛṣṇa-Yajurveda (Taittirīya Saṃhitā)
mugger crocodile, Crocodylus palustris
- c. 600 BCE – 600 CE, Suśruta, Suśruta Saṃhitā

Declension

Masculine a-stem declension of शिंशुमार (śíṃśumā́ra)
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	शिंशुमारः śíṃśumā́raḥ	शिंशुमारौ / शिंशुमारा¹ śíṃśumā́rau / śíṃśumā́rā¹	शिंशुमाराः / शिंशुमारासः¹ śíṃśumā́rāḥ / śíṃśumā́rāsaḥ¹
Vocative	शिंशुमार śíṃśumāra	शिंशुमारौ / शिंशुमारा¹ śíṃśumārau / śíṃśumārā¹	शिंशुमाराः / शिंशुमारासः¹ śíṃśumārāḥ / śíṃśumārāsaḥ¹
Accusative	शिंशुमारम् śíṃśumā́ram	शिंशुमारौ / शिंशुमारा¹ śíṃśumā́rau / śíṃśumā́rā¹	शिंशुमारान् śíṃśumā́rān
Instrumental	शिंशुमारेण śíṃśumā́reṇa	शिंशुमाराभ्याम् śíṃśumā́rābhyām	शिंशुमारैः / शिंशुमारेभिः¹ śíṃśumā́raiḥ / śíṃśumā́rebhiḥ¹
Dative	शिंशुमाराय śíṃśumā́rāya	शिंशुमाराभ्याम् śíṃśumā́rābhyām	शिंशुमारेभ्यः śíṃśumā́rebhyaḥ
Ablative	शिंशुमारात् śíṃśumā́rāt	शिंशुमाराभ्याम् śíṃśumā́rābhyām	शिंशुमारेभ्यः śíṃśumā́rebhyaḥ
Genitive	शिंशुमारस्य śíṃśumā́rasya	शिंशुमारयोः śíṃśumā́rayoḥ	शिंशुमाराणाम् śíṃśumā́rāṇām
Locative	शिंशुमारे śíṃśumā́re	शिंशुमारयोः śíṃśumā́rayoḥ	शिंशुमारेषु śíṃśumā́reṣu
Notes	¹Vedic

Descendants

Pali: suṁsumāra
Prakrit: 𑀲𑀼𑀁𑀲𑀼𑀫𑀸𑀭 (suṃsumāra), 𑀲𑀼𑀲𑀼𑀫𑀸𑀭 (susumāra) (see there for further descendants)

References

^ Mayrhofer, Manfred (1976) “śíśumā́raḥ”, in Kurzgefasstes Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Altindischen [A Concise Etymological Sanskrit Dictionary]‎^[1] (in German), volume III, Heidelberg: Carl Winter Universitätsverlag, page 346
^ Turner, Ralph Lilley (1969–1985) “śiṁśumā́ra”, in A Comparative Dictionary of the Indo-Aryan Languages, London: Oxford University Press, page 720
^ Edgerton, Franklin (1959) “Review of Altindische Grammatik; Introduction générale; Nachträge zu Band I, (and) zu Band II. 1; Nachträge zum Abkürzungsverzeichnis von Band II. 2, by J. Wackernagel, L. Renou, & A. Debrunner”, in Journal of the American Oriental Society‎^[2], volume 79, number 1, page 45
^ Thieme, Paul (1994) “On M. Mayrhofer's "Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Altindoarischen"”, in Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London‎^[3], volume 57, number 2, pages 321–328
^ Mayrhofer, Manfred (1996) “śiśumā́ra-”, in Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Altindoarischen [Etymological Dictionary of Old Indo-Aryan]‎^[4] (in German), volume II, Heidelberg: Carl Winter Universitätsverlag, page 641
^ Monier Williams (1899) “शिंशुमार”, in A Sanskrit–English Dictionary, […], new edition, Oxford: At the Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 1069.